I just discovered this wonderful site and have been reading as many posts as I can. It appears that every member here is eager to help others with their research. I hope I too can contribute to this forum in some way.

I'm currently researching a death document from 1855 Sicily and have come to a dead end. I can't translate most of the document because it is handwritten. Someone fluent in the Sicilian dialect/language could decipher the characters better than I. I have been able to pick out my ancestors and some other information.

I noticed that attaching a scanned document requires a certain procedure to be successful. I would like to submit the my document for review and assistance. Can someone give me the procedure so as not to waste anyone's time? Is .jpg the best format to use?--Thanks, TG.

Welcome. This is a great site and resource. I prefer to use Image Shack. (Thanks Maria)

Here is a post written by Maria on how to use it. By following the steps you will post a link to the document. There is translation help available here. Once you get used to reading the atti di morte, it gets much easier. They follow the same format.

I tried to upload a document through Image Shack and it would not let me get passed the first screen. Is there something else I need to do or that I could be doing wrong? It won't even upload the document for me?

One of them was 113 Kb and was a jpg. file. The other was bigger and will not take it I don't think. When I do those steps nothing shows up in my images. Is there another was I can get them to you guys so you can translate for me?

The year 1868, the day 8, of the month November, the hour 16 (4:00 pm) in the town hall.

Before me, Raffaele Cotantoni (sp?), appointed by the mayor of this comune of Montebello di Bertona, administrative district of Penne, province of Teramo, official of the vital records, appeared Giovannangelo ?, (son of the living) Giuseppeantonio, of years 39 and Ottavio Anton??, (son of the deceased) Antonio, of years 40, both farmers, domiciled and residents of Montebello di Bertona. Which they have declared that today, the 8 of November of the current year at 9:00am in the commune of Montebello di Bertona, died Domenica Colantoni (sp?), 14 months of age. She was born in this comune daughter of Antonio (living) and Annatonia di Giacinto (living), both domiciled and residents of this comune. The above was read to the declarants as they are illeriate.

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Notes

When you read the documents the name of a person's father is often given. If the name is Antonio fu Giovanni it means Antonio, the son of the deceased Giovanni. fu means the person it is referring to is deceased.

I am not sure of the spelling of some of the last names. I copy indexes for the comune I am researching and often refer to this "list" to confirm the spelling of a last name. Some indexes are much more readable than others.